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Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price’s heard the news about 6 a.m. Tuesday, when her phone rang and she learned that American Airlines – one of Fort Worth’s largest employers and top 10 taxpayers – had filed for bankruptcy.
“It wasn’t a huge surprise,” she said. “It had been in the offing.”
Although she said she and other officials are concerned about the company and its employees, Price said said she hopes the company’s move will have as minimal an impact as possible on Fort Worth and the Metroplex.
She said she has no details about the impact this bankruptcy will directly have on Fort Worth, although company officials have promised to call and talk to her and city leaders at some point.
“If there’s anything we can do, we are a resource,” she said. “Obviously we are confident they are going to find their way through and become very competitive again.
“I hope they will work through it quickly and come out of this stronger.”
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said American Airline’s move to file for bankruptcy Tuesday was “the right thing to do.”
“While this was a tough decision by management, it puts American in a much better situation long term and ... the Metroplex will be better,” he said. “It’s always difficult to make the right decision, but they made it.”
Rawlings, who planned to get on an American Airlines flight today, said it’s important to support the company and its employees as American works through the bankruptcy process.
“We want to reach out emotionally to all the employees and retirees in the American Airlines system,” Rawlings said. “This is a tough time and we want to be there for them.”
More than anything, he encouraged people to remember that the Dallas-Fort Worth region is the “heart” of the American Airlines system.
“While there may be cutbacks in other places, they will keep their heart strong in the Metroplex,” he said.
-- Anna M. Tinsley
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott on Monday asked the nation's top court not to allow new maps outlining boundaries for state legislative districts to go into effect.
His request comes after a San Antonio federal court released interim state legislative and congressional maps in recent days, replacing maps the Republican-led legislature drew earlier this year.
The San Antonio court was tasked with drawing the maps after minority groups sued the state, saying boundaries set by the Legislature didn't reflect growth in Texas' Hispanic and black populations. (Photo of Abbott by Eric Gay/AP)
A federal court in Washington, D.C., refused to approve the maps without a trial, agreeing with the Justice Department that there was enough reason to question whether the maps hurt minority representation.
Because Texas has a history of racial discrimination, the state cannot implement the maps or other changes without federal approval.
“Today’s appeal emphasizes that no court has, at any time, found anything unlawful about the redistricting maps passed by the Texas Legislature,” Abbott said Monday. “It is judicial activism at its worst for judges to draw redistricting maps of their own choosing despite no finding of wrongdoing by the state of Texas.”
Texas' application for a stay of the House map
Texas' appendix to application for stay of the House map
Texas' application for a stay of the Senate plan
Texas' appendix to application for stay of the Senate map
-- Anna M. Tinsley
More local politicos are confirming they are thinking about running for a new Congressional seat in Tarrant County that unites most of the county's minority communities.
Fort Worth City Councilwoman Kathleen Hicks and state Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, announced on Wednesday they are running for the new District 33 seat. A federal court in San Antonio still has to finalize the map before filing begins for the 2012 primaries. Republicans are expected to ask the Supreme Court to block the new map from being implemented.
The Rev. Kyev Tatum, a community activist who heads the Tarrant County chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said Friday that he’s "strongly considering" jumping into the race.
"We need someone in that district who is concerned about the issues of the neighborhood," he said. "I’m talking it over with my wife and family, seeing if there’s any way possible we could do that.
Tatum is a former Vice President with the Texas NAACP. He is also a former Republican precinct chair but said if he chooses to run, he would do so as a Democrat.
"It’s a strong Democrat district," he said. "I've been both a Democrat and a Republican. I voted for President Obama in the last election...We have a community organizer in the White House. It would be good to have one in District 33."
Tatum described himself as moderate on many issues.
"I would run as an independent Democrat," Tatum said. "But I would encourage a lot of my Republican friends to vote for me as well."
Fort Worth attorney and former Tarrant County Democratic Party Chairman Art Brender said he would not rule out a bid of his own for District 33.
"My main concern is seeing to it that whoever does represent it, represents the kind of folks in the district," he said Friday. "They can get help they haven’t gotten under (Republican U.S. Reps.) (Kay) Granger, (Joe) Barton and (Michael) Burgess."
Fort Worth civil rights attorney Jason Smith, who had been considering a bid for the seat, said Friday that he’s out of the race. Between his 91-year-old father and his nearly two-year-old twins, he said he already has a full plate.
"Let’s have a full debate & elect REAL Dem to CD-33," Smith posted on Twitter.
-Anna Tinsley and Aman Batheja
State Rep. Aaron Peña , R-Edinburg, announced Friday he won't be seeking re-election because a new court-drawn legislative map makes it impossible for him to win his South Texas district.
In making his announcement Friday, Pena made clear implied he had no confidence Republicans would find success in getting the Supreme Court to intervene and block the court-drawn map from being implemented for the 2012 elections.
Peña has been a member of the Texas House since 2002. He switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party last December, insisting that the Democratic Party had moved too far to the left. During this year's legislative session, Peña's district was redrawn in a way more favorable to a Republican. The revised interim map issued by a federal court this week has Peña running in a district with a strong Democratic voting history.
Peña, one of the first members of the Texas Legislature to start blogging, made the announcement on his blog:
At the beginning of the legislative redistricting process I advised colleagues and map drawers that my goal was to present a map that gave every incumbent in the Rio Grande Valley a legislative district that they could win. We did just that. Unfortunately, the map drawn and designated by the three judge federal redistricting panel undid that work. The district I have been placed in is a 75% Democratic seat. It is unwinnable by me or any Republican candidate and I will not move into another legislative district to run against a colleague.
My decision to switch parties was met with derision by many who accused me of doing so as a quid pro quo. As I said then and is now evidently clear I did so because I felt it was the right thing to do rather than because I expected a political favor in return. Providing South Texans with a choice and forcing petty partisans to debate ideas rather than rely on the personality driven politics of the past is a decision I will never regret. The Rio Grande Valley is too dynamic, too diverse to be dominated by a single party that lets bullies thrive and enrich themselves and their cronies.
You can read the rest of Peña's blog post here.
[AP Photo]
-Aman Batheja
